Eberron: Soaring Skies of Khorvaire

On the wings of adventure! (Skyship now included!)

You guys are now L5! And have decisions to make.

With the Austasia impersonator gone and Varnak’s support in guaranteeing that it seems that “Princess Austasia” takes her leave of the ir’Clarn estate, you have little reason to stay in Wroat. Though with the hospitality offered by Luken, it’s hard to find a reason to leave between the not-harem harem which surrounds you, vivacious tyrannosaur, and life of luxury afforded by just hanging out. There are pressing things to attend to, though, which you do in due course between Lirgiv’s metaphysical ramblings and Luken’s linguistic boondoggles over two-and-a-half weeks.

First and foremost is the matter of the prisoners who did not escape during the breakout of “Austasia”, Knuckles and Ayrun. While both had proven close-mouthed for the most part while their boss was in captivity, having been left to rot loosens their tongues. They confirm that “Austasia” was intend an impostor, a changeling by the name of Rooikat: Neither, however, seems to have any idea of why she was hired, pleading that they were merely Rooikat’s traditional hired muscle and she never shared such things with them. Ayrun believed Rooikat had been hired by a previous employer, due to the familiarity – and contempt – she expressed for him or her. Hoping that Rooikat had taken flight without cleaning up her paper trail, Varnak and the party tear up the room she had been using hoping to find something useful: Well-hidden and guarded by anti-divination wards, a bag of holding was found which contained a logbook detailing names, dates, and varieties of employment Rooikat and her gang had been employed in. Itself a rather damning thing, under the dates at which Rooikat was at the ir’Clarn estate, it lists her employer as Guix ir’Vannan. Mara’s jaw slackens at seeing that: Guix ir’Vannan is Aundair’s ambassador to Breland.

The question still remains what to do with Ayrun and Knuckles: With the revelation they were in the employ of Aundair’s ambassador, you’re still looking at a potential international incident if this is not handled carefully. Aurim claims to be owed a favor by the local House Deneith enclave, which can be called in to quietly and securely put the two of them on a slow boat to Stormreach or Regalport. Varnak’s apt to simply let that be the end of it, unless the party’s got a better idea.

The second matter of import is preparing to leave Wroat itself. You have a large stockpile of gear to process, as well as a new party member who is essentially naked. Mercifully, Mara is able to extract a fair amount of useful kit from the loot pile while still leaving more than enough to make everyone (even more?) filthy stinking rich. Moving the kinds and volumes of goods being discussed while simultaneously keeping a low profile takes time, though Varnak seems to “know just the dwarf” who can get it done. The offer you receive is 36,000gp for the entire lot: With Mara eschewing any interest due to her already taking her fair share, that works out to 9,000gp per head. With an offer on the table for your goods, you also resolve the status of your lightning rail car: Unfortunately, circumstance has demanded that the car be pressed back into line-service, though you do receive a voucher for three days of private car service in the future and Gwynne receives her 3,000gp back, along with a note from Valara apologizing for the inconvenience, but noting the offer for dinner at the Celestial Vista is still good for the enxt time they’re in Sharn. The final aspect of preparedness comes from fashioning a gondola with which to bear the party upon the back of their newfound dragonhawk: As fashioning such a thing for a dragonhawk would probably attract undue attention, an on-site assembly is necessitated. Surprisingly, Ligriv is surprisingly knowledgeable both about the carrying capacity of dragonhawks and the necessary aerodynamics of the project, making him an ideal designer for the device. (Seeing a tyrannosaur sketch blueprints with a paintbrush in its mouth is one of the things you will never, ever be able to forget.) Constructing it falls to the estate’s hired help, though once finished, it seems an ideal match for what was needed: It took a while to convince Efram of that, but Mara proved to be very persuasive.

Thirdly, there is the out-standing offer by Alvos Brillik to participate in his great expedition into the Mournland. You argue amongst yourselves, for and against, for several days and are unable to come to a consensus: While the rewards are beyond your wildest dreams, so are the potential dangers. You inform the General of this: He gets a good laugh at it, but says he understands. He informs you that his intended departure date from Gatherhold is 8 Dravago, which is five weeks from today, and that if you make it, bunk space aboard the Vermitharan can be found for you. As he takes his leave of Wroat, he also informs you that if you have any more questions, direct them to Beveril ir’Kaian, Prince Oargev’s ambassador to the court of King Boranel. Strangely, the day after Brillik took his leave of Wroat, you received a summons to the home of Beveril, asking you visit at your earliest possible convenience. Should you choose to join the Brillik expedition, there are four primary ways to reach Gatherhold from Wroat:
1) Take the lightning rail northeast to Thaliost, Thrane, take a ferry across Scion’s Sound or ford the rubble of the White Arch Bridge to Rekkenmark, Karrnath, then take the lightning rail south from Rekkenmark through Korth, Karrlakton, and Vendra to Gatherhold.
2) Take the lightning rail northeast to Flamekeep, Thrane, board a ship traveling across Scion’s Sound to Korth, Karrnath, then take the lightning rail through Karrlakton and Vendra to Gatherhold.
3) Take the lightning rail northeast to Hatheril, then fly or walk to the southern shore of Lake Brey, where a boat is then taken east along the Brey River, north and east across Scion’s Sound, then south down the Cyre River into Lake Cyre and then to Gatherhold.
4) Take the lightning rail southwest to Sharn, where a boat is then taken south and east to Pylas Maradel, Valenar, then walking, flying, or taking the lightning rail north-by-northeast through Taer Valaestas, Keth, Shivairn, and Mishann to Gatherhold.

If the loot manifest is approved, shopping and meeting with Beveril, if you are so inclined, can be done off-screen. The game will pick up on game-date 3 Eyre, 998 A.K.

A man with boundless intellect has a boundless ambition and wants to send you into a land full of a boundless number of things that want to kill you.

Alvos Brillik smiles, knowingly, as he folds his arms and starts his sales pitch.

“It has become something of a cliché to say that Cyre’s destruction is a fait accompli. Were that it were true! I could have spent the past four years somewhere nice and sunny, finally devoting myself to my life’s one true love. But no, Cyre is not lost. Diminished, indubitably, but not dead. And it is my ambition to restore her.”

“Grandiose, I know, but a testament to Cyre’s ability to endure is the persistence of the ‘Cyran Question’ on the international stage: What are the nations of Khorvaire to do with we Cyrans, in light of what happened on the Day of Mourning? Aurala made clear what she thinks – that there is no more Cyre – and she carried the day in the Thronehold Accords. But not all are so…closed-minded or unsympathetic. I’ve spent the last four years courting, badgering, cajoling, and guilting those who disagree with Aurala into doing something about it. And my efforts are about to bear fruit.”

“Karrnath and Breland have proven…amenable to modifications to the post-war order, to facilitate the creation of a new Kingdom of Cyre out of the remnants of what once was that great nation: In short, the consolidation of the Talenta Plains, Valenar, and New Galifar into a single polity, one which also exercises nominal sovereign control of the Mournland. The sell, admittedly, was rather easier than you might think. The Talenta Plains have proven ungovernable, with the tribes, settlers, and my armies for that matter paying little heed to the Ghallandra government in Gatherhold; the elves of Valenar have proven rather uninterested in governing and would rather fight each other; and New Galifar is constantly inveighing for assistance from the Five Nations to deal with whatever the crisis of the week is in Q’barra. Making them all a problem of someone other than the guarantors of the Thronehold Accords was a rather convincing argument.”

“To do all of that, I need a king for what would be the resurrected Cyre. Fortunately, fate opted to preserve one member of Dannel’s line: Her youngest son, Oargev, who was the ambassador to Breland when the Day of Mourning occurred and who has, subsequently, become the leader of the enclave at New Cyre. (Ironic that the man who would be king of a new Cyre is the mayor of a burg called New Cyre, isn’t it?) No, what I require and do not have to make a king of him is a crown. And that is where our interests coincide, for I am organizing an expedition to the Mournland to recover the Cyran crown jewels.”

“The mobile fortress Vermitharas was the last of those great structures to be constructed during the Last War, having been laid down in 993 and been in the final stages of assembly at the elemental works in Mishann when the Mourning happened. For the past four years, the Ghallandra government and I have been scrimping and saving to finish her construction: A task which we have, at long last, completed. I will be taking the Vermitharas, with a full crew complement, to Vermishard Palace, in the very heart of Metrol. We are going to salvage the House Kundarak-built vaults beneath the palace and the treasures they contain, including the crown jewels. And I am in need of brave souls who are willing to brave the horrors of Host only knows what has taken up residence in Metrol and the depths of Cyre’s former seat of government.”

“I can see that look on your faces: ‘What’s in it for us?’ Well, I promised you way into Fairhaven, didn’t I? Once crowned, custom would demand that King Oargev undertake a state visit to the courts of the other major powers: True, this practice faded during the Last War, but it persisted at least when the powers weren’t at each other’s throats. You could be made members of his diplomatic entourage, which would, in due course, get you access to Fairhaven and a fair amount of freedom of action to pursue your goals once there. Beyond that…well, you would be heroes of the realm, helping revive a nation thought lost to history and providing a home to millions of displaced refugees. If altruism is not sufficient…well, the thanks of the royal government would be consummate to the risks taken: Ennobling and demenses for you all are certainly guaranteed, with thousands upon thousands of acres of the Talenta Plains and northern Valenar available for bequeathing. And who knows what treasures might be found in Metrol? Reasonable rights of salvage will be afforded while in the Mournland. If that is not enough to adduce you…well, I suspect not even Kol Korran himself could convince you to go.”

Congrats, party! You got fat loot. ...and an international incident or three brewing.

Calm soon returns to the outdoor annex to the ir’Clarn estate’s main residency, as Varnak, Luken, Dr. Flint, and the guards free themselves from the sticky tanglefoot residue in which they found themselves trapped. Chaos soon returns, however, as Varnak begins asserting control over the situation and the damage control commences: After all, for many of the denizens of the ir’Clarn palace, they witnessed Princess Austasia being forcibly escorted out the back door and will not be seeing her re-enter. Combined with the sounds of scuffling that were invariably heard, it seems inevitable that folks will assume that someone attacked Austasia and her disappearance indicates a kidnapping.

After caucusing with Varnak, Aurim, and – perhaps counterproductively – Luken, a workable lie was finalized: The dragonhawk succeeded in escaping its restraints again, and the on-rush of a giant bird seeking to devour her had given the poor Austasia a case of the vapors, causing her to faint and demanding the rushing her off to her quarters for sequestration until her consciousness and nerve returned. (Mara, it must be noted, vociferously objected: Though whether it was due to her finding the idea genuinely flawed or just to disliking being portrayed as a fragile waif is debatable.) It was not, of course, a long-term resolution to the problem of what do about their impostor’s posing as Austasia, but at least it bought time to give the matter some thought.

With the immediate crisis averted, the guards and grounds crew of the estate set about moving Knuckles, Ayrun, and Austasia to a more…secure location, where upon they were dutifully searched and their items inventoried. Mara, demonstrating a bit of initiative and skill you didn’t realize she possessed, set about identifying what inventoried equipment, as well as the equipment you recovered from Avina. The next several hours pass in relative peace: Mara being busy identifying, while Varnak busies himself with clearing Austasia’s social calendar and convincing the small army of men who were clamoring for some of her time that it would be impossible to see her today.

Four hours have elapsed since the end of the brawl and it is now mid-afternoon. Mara has succeeded in clearing out the backlog, quite a feat, given the size of the inventory she was asked to tackle, though she lacks the tools to accurately assess the values of the gems found on Knuckles and Ayrun. According to Aurim, which Gwynne corroborates, the knock-out poison used on Austasia should be wearing off soon. A new wrinkle has manifested itself, though, as one of Austasia’s appointments, an elderly firebrand identifying himself as General Alvos Brillik whom Varnak informs you was the man with whom Austasia was meeting when he grabbed her, adamantly refuses to leave and has gone so far as to ask to speak with the party, directly. Varnak seems rather loathe to resort to throwing him out, while Mara seems to almost titter when it’s brought up he’s here and seeking her out. (Well, her other persona, at any rate.)

You have three questions that’re worth mulling over, intrepid explorers:
1) What are you going to do with the impostor Austasia and her goons?
2) What are you going to do about the fact that it’s common knowledge Austasia is in Wroat at the ir’Clarn residence and her going missing will clearly draw attention?
3) What are you going to do about this Alvos Brillik fellow?

You have four hours of downtime with which to play with, if you’d like to do anything in-particular, before the next session begins. Just lemme know, then we’ll figure out what needs to be done to make it happen.

Robbing unconscious wizards, for fun and profit!

The information below is simply to satisfy the need all players have to know what shinies they’ve found. The magical items require identification, though some are fairly obvious. The mundane stuff requires interaction in-character to resolve, though it’s fun stuff, so answers will be forthcoming if you do fiddle with them.

A blog for your campaign

While the wiki is great for organizing your campaign world, it’s not the best way to chronicle your adventures. For that purpose, you need a blog!

The Adventure Log will allow you to chronologically order the happenings of your campaign. It serves as the record of what has passed. After each gaming session, come to the Adventure Log and write up what happened. In time, it will grow into a great story!

Best of all, each Adventure Log post is also a wiki page! You can link back and forth with your wiki, characters, and so forth as you wish.

One final tip: Before you jump in and try to write up the entire history for your campaign, take a deep breath. Rather than spending days writing and getting exhausted, I would suggest writing a quick “Story So Far” with only a summary. Then, get back to gaming! Grow your Adventure Log over time, rather than all at once.